The long-awaited prequel to George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road will film in NSW and is expected to become the biggest film ever to be made in Australia.
Furiosa will star Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of the heroic warrior of Fury Road, played in that film by Charlize Theron, alongside Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
According to Screen NSW, Furiosa will be the largest production to ever be filmed in NSW when filming begins in June, bringing at least $350 million into the NSW economy.
With NSW employing 56 per cent of the Australian screen industry, the production is expected to support more than 850 local jobs, with filming set to take place in a number of locations, including in Western Sydney and Broken Hill.
Attracting Furiosa to NSW also caps a recent boom in the local screen industry, with multiple blockbuster productions being filmed across the state, including Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, which is currently filming with Hemsworth in the lead role.
Miller, who recently finished filming Three Thousand Years of Longing in Sydney, said in an online statement that it was great to see the Mad Max franchise return to Australia.
“We are entirely grateful to the Berejiklian government and for the advice and help extended to us by Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia, and Grainne Brunsdon, Head of Screen NSW,” he said.
“The support of the federal and New South Wales governments were pivotal. They made it possible for the film to be greenlit, shot in Australia and for the production to be based in our home state.”
Speaking to the press, Miller added that “this is a story that I can’t wait to see in a cinema”.
Hemsworth said that joining the cast was the biggest “pinch myself moment” in his acting career, having grown up watching Miller’s Mad Max series.
“It’s a huge honour,” he said, via The Sydney Morning Herald.
“A lot of pressure but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating.”
The state’s $175 million Made in NSW fund and PDV Rebate, and the federal government’s 40 per cent tax break (known as the Producer Offset), are said to have helped to secure the production for NSW.
It comes after the federal government backtracked a planned move to reduce the Producer Offset to 30 per cent.
Furiosa will be produced by Kennedy Miller Mitchell Films and financed by Warner Bros/Village Roadshow for worldwide distribution.
George Miller will direct, co-write and produce the film, along with his long-time partner, producer Doug Mitchell.
Miller’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes such long-time Australian collaborators as production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of who won an Oscar for their work on Fury Road.
The creative team also includes first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris.
Fury Road was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 2016, and won six, including for Production Design, Sound Mixing and Editing, Costume Design, Hair and Makeup, and Film Editing.
It is considered one of the greatest action films ever made and topped Empire’s list of the best movies of the decade, voted on by readers and critics alike.
Featured image (L to R): Chris Hemsworth, Doug Mitchell and George Miller (source: Screen NSW)
